Navy Men, Women Top Army West Point on Day 4 of Patriot League Champs

Emma Levendoski completed a perfect sweep of all eight backstroke titles during her four years of Patriot League Championships with a 1:56.90 win in the women's 200 back on Saturday. Archive photo via Bucknell Athletics

The Golden Goggle Awards are USA Swimming’s yearly awards gala, and they’ll happen tonight in New York City. You can follow along on the USA Swimming website, which will livestream the event. Follow the link here.

Patriot League Championships – Men and Women

The women and men of the United States Naval Academy won yet another conference title this year, but there were terrific performances from all ten teams on the final night of the 2016 Patriot League Championships. Army West Point, in particular, had a strong finish. The women moved from fifth in last year’s contest to second overall in 2016. On the men’s side, Boston University outscored Bucknell by only 18.5 points for third, while Holy Cross edged American by one point for ninth place.

Army West Point sophomore Sabrina Mortell knocked 20 seconds off her third-place time from last year’s Championships to open the final night of competition with a 16:36.22 win in the women’s 1650 freestyle. Lehigh junior Cora Summerfield, who was eighth in 2014 and fourth in 2015, put up the second-fastest time this year with 16:39.03, her best by 27 seconds. Boston University’s Grace Anderson came to the wall in 16:42.52 for third, using a strong back half to pass two-time defending champion and teammate, Steph Nasson.

Navy senior Noah Martin, who won the 500 free on Thursday and was second in the 200 on Friday, added the 1650 crown on Saturday to close out his individual events. Martin went 15:09.22 to win by over 7 seconds. Army West Point freshman Thomas Ottman took second with 15:16.95. Bucknell junior Louis Behnen made his third trip to the podium in the 1650 in as many years, picking up a bronze with 15:26.93. Behnen came in third in 2014 and was runner-up last year.

Bucknell senior Emma Levendoski made it a perfect 8 for 8 in backstroke finals at the Patriot League Championships over her four-year career when she won the women’s 200 back in 1:56.90. Levendoski is the reigning Patriot League record-holder (1:54.48 from 2014) and meet record-holder (1:56.22 from 2015) in the event. Finishing second was Kaitlyn O’Reilly of Navy in 1:58.10; teammate Emily Ranzau, placed third with 1:58.55.

Bucknell’s Chris Devlin won a thrilling 200 back final, trading stroke for stroke for 175 yards with Navy senior David Carlson before breaking away to a 1:43.14 finish and a new meet record. Carlson, who had won the 100 back on Friday, was 20/100 back in 1:43.34. Completing the podium was BU sophomore GarrettChin, who went 1:46.29 for third. Devlin, Carlson and Chin were second, third and fourth, respectively, in this event last year.

Defending champion Kenzie Margroum of Navy successfully defended her title in the women’s 100 free with a new Patriot League and meet record of 49.30. Teammate Maddie Thompson was runner-up with 49.87. Army West Point freshman Monica Sowinski took third with 50.36.

In the men’s 100 free, Army West Point senior Chris Szekely repeated his 2015 Patriot League title with a win in 44.02. Navy teammates Joseph Jaime and Thomas Duvall, who had won the 200 free, came in second and third, respectively, with 44.14 and 44.15.

After the 200 IM and 100 breast, Navy’s Lauren Barber won her third event of the meet with a new League and championship record of 2:10.53 in the 200 breast. Teammate Ellen Bradford was second with 2:13.87. Army West Point freshman Jessica Ambrose scored the bronze with 2:16.12.

Defending champion Marlin Brutkiewicz of Navy eked out a win over Ben Cono of Loyola, who had won the 100 breast title on Friday. The two were even throughout the entire race, coming to the wall in 1:55.48 and 1:55.70, respectively. Brutkiewicz picked up the meet record with his win. Lafayette senior Greg Grewal took third with 1:57.97.

Defending champion Rachael Dudley of Navy broke the League and meet record with a 1:57.76 win in the women’s 200 fly. Bucknell sophomore Julianna Foss just touched out Hanna Gillcrist of Navy, 2:00.26 to 2:00.30, for runner-up.

Navy senior Jonathan Debaugh won his third consecutive 200 fly title with a 1:44.21. Nearly two body lengths behind him were a pack of four who came to the wall virtually together: Hayes McCullagh of Navy was second (1:46.40), Sean Regan of Army West Point, third (1:46.45), Lehigh’s Jacob Moyar, fourth (1:46.78), and Jason Rodriguez of Army West Point, fifth (1:47.67).

Navy senior Julie Jesse won her first 3-meter diving title with a strong performance in the final round. Jesse scored 262.05 points to earn the win over teammate Amanda Zerphy (253.80) and BU’s Kyra Tatlow (247.95). Tatlow won the 1-meter boards on Thursday.

The Midshipmen crushed the League, meet, and pool records in the women’s 400 free relay with 3:18.10 from Margroum (49.22), Ally Warnimont (49.93), Barber (50.11), and Thompson (48.84). Lehigh took second in 3:21.58, just ahead of Army West Point (3:22.84).

Navy broke the League, meet, and pool records in the men’s 400 free relay as well. Joseph (43.88), Bjorn Davis (44.07), Zachary Piedt (43.88), and Duvall (43.09) combined for 2:54.92. Army West Point scored second with 2:56.43, despite a 43.15 anchor from Szekely. Lehigh took third with 2:58.48.

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About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swim/swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …